Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Popular US Soccer Journalist Dies While Covering Match; Brittney Griner In Good Spirts After Return To The US; Still No Suspect Or Motive Identified In North Carolina Power Grid Attacks; Sinema Switch Puts AZ 2024 Senate Race In The Spotlight; Ohio Measles Outbreak Spreading Among Unvaccinated Kids; NYC Mayor's New Homeless Policy Ignites Controversy. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired December 10, 2022 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:29]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A prominent sports writer, Grant Wahl who is known as a beloved ambassador for soccer passed away while covering the tournament.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He collapsed in the stands.

LEBRON JAMES, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: It is a tragic loss.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brittney Griner now in her home state after nearly 10 months in a Russian prison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At Brooke Army Medical Center, she is undergoing a medical evaluation.

ADM. JOHN KIRBY (RET), COORDINATOR FOR STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS AT THE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: The only one that they were willing to trade was Brittney.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST (voice over): And my conversation with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy about his passion to reform mental health laws.

Why is this such an important issue for you, personally?

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Oh my gosh. Don't make me cry.

BROWN: I am Pamela Brown in Washington and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Shock and heartache at the World Cup.

The sports world is stunned by the sudden death of American soccer journalist, Grant Wahl, a preeminent voice respected around the world.

Wahl was only 49 years old. He collapsed in the press area during Friday's Argentina-Netherlands quarterfinals match.

And today, in his place, a memorial of white flowers. Wahl was more than a writer, he was a beloved ambassador for the sport. He was also someone who could speak truth to power when necessary. Wahl was a critic of Qatar hosting the Cup because of its human rights record, and he was briefly detained last month for wearing a shirt in support of gay rights.

CNN's Patrick Snell joins us now live.

Patrick, what more do we know about his death?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT ANCHOR: Hi, Pam. Yes, this is a very somber and heavy day. No question about that.

And of course our condolences do go out to the family of Grant Wahl.

Look, many of us knew him. We worked with him. I had him on our World Sports show many times. Such a class act as a person and such an impactful career in sports journalism and beyond.

Tributes coming in all day this Saturday. What we've been learning though through this day was that Wahl felt ill in the press area. This was actually during the game between Argentina and Holland, the quarterfinal, receiving what we now know what we were told at least immediate medical treatment on site before then, being transferred to the hospital that according to Qatar's World Cup organizers.

Simply put though, Pam, at this hour, the circumstances around his death are not clear, but we do know though, in an episode of the podcast "Football with Grant Wahl" published just days before his death on December the 6th, he had complained of feeling unwell, while revealing that he'd sought help actually as well at the medical clinic there at the FIFA World Cup, the media center there, believing he had bronchitis.

But I mentioned his impact and what an impact during his career, and you said at the top there, just last month, making headlines by reporting he was detained for close to half an hour briefly even refused entry to a World Cup match there in Qatar, a match he was trying to cover, because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.

Later, Wahl received an apology and go on to watch the game there, Pam, but as I said at the top, just a very, very poignant, somber, difficult weekend for so many of us.

BROWN: There have been so many touching tributes pouring in from you know, the average Joe to LeBron James.

Tell us more about the tributes that you have been seeing today.

SNELL: Right. Yes, yes. You're so right.

You know, LeBron James as well. You know, Grant Wahl profiled him 20 years ago back in 2002 when he was a high school athlete, and James paying that emotional tribute. And then there's one really, really -- just a strong image that resonated with me earlier from this day, those white flowers and that framed picture of Grant that were placed in his seat in the press center, at that France-England match shot on Saturday in the World Cup quarterfinals, a match that he absolutely should have been there.

He would have been there. He should have been there, Pam, and we all know he would have absolutely relished being at that sporting spectacle at the World Cup, and another really poignant tribute coming in that could arise is from America's national team, skipper at this World Cup, Tyler Adams who took to Twitter to say: "We offer our deepest sympathy to Celine Gounder (Grant's wife) and all those who mourn the loss of Grant Wahl. As players, we have a tremendous amount of respect for the work of journalists and Grant's was a giant voice in soccer that has tragically fallen silent."

[18:05:05]

And I just want to wrap really, Pam with -- you know, he was kind. I want to get that across. He was kind. He had time for everyone.

I did meet him, I met him in person and nothing was too much trouble. And it's just so hard to accept what's happened.

BROWN: That is universally what you keep hearing about him is that he was kind. He was just a kind, good human being.

SNELL: And he cared. And he really cared.

BROWN: And he cared. And you saw that -- you saw that in Qatar. It is just beyond sad.

And we also -- we share our sympathies and condolences to Celine Gounder, his wife who was a CNN contributor.

Patrick Snell, thank you so much.

And I want to bring in one of Grant Wahl's friends and former colleagues, Hal Habib's relationship with the sports writer goes back decades.

Hal, first of all, we're so sorry for your loss. I imagine you are still processing this.

First, I just want to ask you, you know, for those who may have not known Grant Wahl before now, why is this such a tremendous loss? And why was he so important to the sports world and beyond?

HAL HABIB, JOURNALIST: Grant was unique in so many ways. He was as smart as they come. He was witty. He was friendly. He cared about people.

He could cover a major event, such as the World Cup, the Olympics, things like that, and not lose sight of the bigger picture, holding people accountable if it came to that. That's why he showed up in that rainbow t-shirt the other day, and that's why he questioned things like the workers' deaths in Qatar.

And if that ruffled some feathers, so be it. He was doing his job and doing it better than anybody covered soccer in this country.

He was such an ambassador. I know that's a word that you used in the intro, and that's perfect, because he goes back to when soccer was basically nothing in the US, and he has seen it grow. And, you know, now we don't have that voice anymore, and it is such a shame.

BROWN: What a tremendous body of work he leaves behind.

You're the assistant, in 1996, I'm going to go back there. You're the assistant sports editor and the Olympics editor at "The Miami Herald" and Grant, an intern from Princeton, volunteered for a project. Tell us more about that.

HABIB: He came up to me one day and sort of introduced himself, "I'm the intern from Princeton." And he said, "You know, I'd like to do a preview of the Olympic soccer tournament." And it was important to us because some of the matches, were actually in the Orange Bowl in Miami. And I said, "Yes, sure, go ahead."

And I didn't know what to expect. I probably wasn't expecting that much, and it seemed like maybe an hour later, he is tapping me on the shoulder. And he's saying, "Yes, I sent it to you, Hal. Go take a look. See what you think."

And I was just floored at that point, and I pulled it up on my screen, and it was just perfect.

He displayed a knowledge of teams like Brazil that everybody is aware of, all the way down to teams that nobody heard of and that was Grant.

BROWN: Yes, and you have said, his knowledge, his vast knowledge of the sport meant he was as plugged in as anyone was, right?

HABIB: He was. He had access to anybody and everybody in the sport from David Beckham all the way to the FIFA President, and he could go on and on. As a matter of fact, there was a point when Grant announced his campaign to become FIFA President, and I remember, maybe it was on Twitter or e-mail, I wholeheartedly endorsed it.

And maybe it was half joking, but in my heart, I knew that Grant would have been the best man for the job. Let's get real. He was that good in soccer.

BROWN: What will you miss most about your friendship?

HABIB: You know, his words, his ability to look beyond the obvious -- all of that. He was a voice that soccer and sports in general, doesn't always we -- don't come across that kind of knowledge all the time.

And he was so unique in being able to put it together, not only know what's going on, if he watches a soccer match, that's half of it. Being able to tell the story, that's the other half and he did that and he did it so well.

BROWN: He certainly did. Hal Habib, thank you so much.

HABIB: Thank you.

BROWN: And on Instagram, Cherelle Griner is expressing things today as her wife, Brittney returns to the US after 10 excruciating months in Russia. And she says: "Yesterday, my heart was made whole, thanks to the collective efforts of many. I'm humbled by their hearts to care for another, a stranger to some, a friend to some is humanity in its purest form."

[18:10:13]

CNN's Rosa Flores has more on Griner's journey home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, US STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: We are absolutely gratified that Brittney Griner is back on American soil.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Welcome news today on Griner's return.

"We can confirm, Brittney Griner arrived at Joint Base San Antonio." Brittney Griner now in her home state after nearly 10 months in a Russian prison, most recently serving her nine-year sentence in a Russian Penal Colony.

And there is new information about her life there. Griner says she cut her long hair nearly two weeks ago and trimmed it to make her life easier during the Russian winter and her attorney there says she was unable to do the sewing work she was assigned at the Penal Colony due to her large hands and because the tables were too small to accommodate her.

President Joe Biden's National Security Council spokesperson saying she appears to be in good health.

KIRBY: She was very incredibly gracious and kind and humble on the flight. Very, very appreciative of the effort to get her home.

FLORES (voice over): Griner is now undergoing a medical evaluation before being reunited with her wife, Cherelle and the rest of her family.

A senior Biden administration official saying the negotiations to bring Griner home were separate from any talks about Ukraine. The deal came together about one week ago after the US offered to swap convicted Russian arms dealer, Viktor Bout for both Griner and Paul Whelan.

Whelan was detained in Russia in 2018, convicted on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison, a charge he denies. The Russians rejected that proposal.

KIRBY: It was either make this exchange, get one back and the only one that they were willing to trade was Brittney.

FLORES (voice over): President Biden didn't sign the commutation papers for Bout until Griner was on the ground in Abu Dhabi...

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She is on the ground.

FLORES (voice over): ... in sight of a US delegation.

Russian President Vladimir Putin saying the Russian Federal Security Service took charge of the swap, adding there is a possibility for further negotiations, raising hopes that Paul Whelan could be the next American freed.

For now, Griner's family, friends and teammates say they are just happy to have her home.

VINCE KOZAR, PRESIDENT, PHOENIX MERCURY: We are incredibly gratifying and thankful she is back.

FLORES (voice over): Rosa Flores, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Rosa Flores, thanks so much.

In the next hour, we'll be joined by a man who knows what Griner is going through after he was freed after being detained for five years. I'll speak to a member of the Citgo Six next hour.

And coming up for you on this Saturday night, well, we all need electricity, right? But the power grid, it is fragile. So why isn't more being done to protect it from attack?

And political earthquake. Senator Kyrsten Sinema's decision surprised the Democratic Party and turned her own seat into a top target for Republicans.

And how an outbreak of measles in Ohio has left public health officials baffled and frustrated.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:18]

BROWN: Well, much of Ukraine's Odesa region is in darkness following a series of Russian drone strikes.

President Zelenskyy says more than one-and-a-half million people are currently without power and he says that Russia used 15 Iranian-made drones and that all but five were shot down. Still, he says the damage is "critical."

There is no timeline yet for power to be restored, but it could take days. And turning now to North Carolina where investigators have yet to identify a suspect or motive in the attack on two electrical substations that left thousands without power.

Police are focusing their efforts on internet threads linked to extremist behavior, and it turns out, last Saturday's attack was no isolated incident. Substations in Oregon and Washington State have also been targeted recently.

Katherine Blunt joins us now. She is an energy reporter for "The Wall Street Journal" and author of "California Burning: The Fall of Pacific Gas and Electric and What it Means for America's Power Grid."

So Katherine, you know, as a reporter covering National Security myself for many years, I've often reported on how vulnerable infrastructure is, the power grid is. And if you would, walk us through why it is so vulnerable and how something like this could happen.

KATHERINE BLUNT, ENERGY REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Absolutely.

So the power grid has been vulnerable to this kind of attack for many years. This is not a new issue.

You know, it is interesting, we tend to only hear about these kinds of attacks when they are major in scope, you know, cause major outages or other challenges for the companies that operate the equipment.

But, as you were saying, it does occur on a periodic basis, and part of the problem is by nature, you know, the infrastructure that supports the grid is, you know, some of it is in very remote areas.

These substations and these power lines carry electrons over great distances, and so it can be difficult to secure it all in a way that makes it safe from this kind of intrusion.

BROWN: And it is troubling because we see the kind of impact, the ripple effect it has if something happens, if there is an act of vandalism as what happened in North Carolina, and it can take several days for everything to be restored.

Why haven't companies or the US government, for that matter, do more to protect these networks, knowing how easy to target they can be?

BLUNT: Sure. Well, the industry is aware of this issue, which, you know, it is tough to say whether it has become worse in recent years because the data that tracks it isn't always the best.

But you know, for example, there was a very well-known and well- publicized attack on infrastructure in California in 2013 and companies in the wake of that incident did more to try to safeguard their substations and other parts of the grid that may be vulnerable to that kind of attack.

[18:20:14] But I mean, the grid is enormous in scope and it would take a lot of resources to fully secure all of the critical components that we are talking about.

So more has -- companies have tried to do more over the years as has the government, but it's a tough challenge to confront.

BROWN: So then it brings you to the next question, it is such a tough challenge to confront , and it is going to be even more strained, right? With just increased challenges in the future, when you look at things like climate change, more electric vehicles, and a growing population, right, that's going to put more of a strain and a higher demand on these power grids.

BLUNT: That's absolutely right. We are preparing for a period of time in which demand is expected to increase for the first time in a long time, and it is because we are becoming more reliant on electricity, which means incidents like this have the potential to be increasingly disruptive.

Of course, they are now where we are very reliant on the grid as it is, but it is true that I mean for a variety of reasons, the grid is becoming more vulnerable to failure and if you have a targeted attack like this, it has the potential to have far greater consequences.

BROWN: Katherine Blunt, thanks so much for sharing your insight and analysis on this. We should all be paying attention to it because it could impact all of us.

BLUNT: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Well, you are in the CNN NEWSROOM on this Saturday.

When Senator Kyrsten Sinema said she was leaving the Democratic Party, she may have handed a Senate seat to the Republican Party.

We're going to explain why her decision could have huge implications for 2024.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:26:12]

BROWN: Well, just when we thought the dust had settled on the Senate makeup for next year, along comes a curveball from a lawmaker in Arizona.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema's announcement that she is leaving the Democratic Party to become an Independent surprised people on both sides of the aisle. Still, it appears it won't change the balance of power and it looks as if she'll keep the Committee assignments she had as a Democrat. But there are questions for what this means down the road.

And here to talk about it is AXIOS reporter, Jeremy Duda. So Jeremy, you've covered Arizona politics for years. What do you make of this? JEREMY DUDA, REPORTER, AXIOS: It seems like trying to head off, you know, looking ahead at 2024, you know, Senator Sinema, her approval numbers among Democrats have been pretty abysmal, especially over the --

I mean, there has been a lot of dissatisfaction with her over the years since she's been in Congress, but over the last two years since Joe Biden has been President in particular, she has really at times seemingly gone out of her way to kind of frustrate some Democratic agenda items.

A lot of folks are very mad at her about the filibuster, and it seemed increasingly unlikely that she was going to be able to get through a Democratic primary. And we have at least one person out here, Congressman Ruben Gallego who had been making a lot of noise about possibly challenging here. He might not be the only one looking at that as well.

BROWN: Yes, I mean, look, you raise a really important point because for Democrats, the knives are out, right? What would a progressive Democrat like a Ruben Gallego -- what do you expect them to do now?

DUDA: It's hard to say. I mean, part of the calculus was, I would presume is that Sinema was so unpopular, but and we haven't heard from Congressman Gallego yet. I presume he is probably weighing his options. Same for Congressman Greg Stanton, another Democrat here in the Phoenix area, who actually tweeted out some internal poll numbers yesterday indicating that very recently had been polling, a possible primary challenge against Senator Sinema as well.

So I'm sure, it seems very likely that at least one big name Democrat will get into that race. And we will see, you know, probably a race with Democratic nominee whether Gallego or Stanton or someone else, whoever the Republicans' nominate, then Sinema there in the middle as an Independent.

BROWN: Right. And so, you know, we're looking ahead to 2024, and whether this move was sort of a calculation to better position her then, but what about right now? What is the impact right now? Why should people care about this?

DUDA: I mean, right now, it seems like not a lot will change. I mean, she will keep her Committee assignments in the Senate per an agreement with Chuck Schumer. She is still -- I am not sure, but she'll go into caucus with the Democrats to the extent that she really has in the first place.

I mean, this will not change the balance of power too much. I mean, it'll still be Republicans with 49 seats. There's already two other Democrats or Independents who caucus with the Democrats. Kyrsten Sinema will presumably still be voting mostly with them and still maintaining a lot of her more independent positions.

So right now, it does not -- in terms of the balance of power -- it doesn't seem like a lot will change, but that remains to be seen. BROWN: So when you go back to Arizona, and you really hone in on it, if you're Kari Lake, the Arizona Republican who lost her Governor's race, or Blake Masters, the Republican who failed to win a Senate seat, you're taking a hard look at 2024, right?

DUDA: Sure, a lot of folks are, and this will probably, you know, potentially draw out some more serious Republican challengers, or at least maybe.

I mean, I think a lot of folks -- a lot of Republicans probably did not want to take on Kyrsten Sinema in a General Election and now, the possibility that you'd have her, you know, possibly cleaving off some votes from the Democratic nominee might be enticing, but she may also pull some votes from the Republicans, well, especially if they nominate a more, you know, Trump-aligned MAGA-type candidate. I mean, the same folks we saw this year who you know, lost after a lot of Republican voters defected to the Democratic challengers.

BROWN: All right, Jeremy Duda, thanks so much for coming on.

[18:30:11]

Well, measles is spreading in a part of Ohio despite the disease being declared eliminated in the U.S. more than 20 years ago. That story is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:27]

BROWN: Well, it is usually a day of celebration, but winter graduation at the University of Idaho in Moscow took on a more somber feeling today. The School held a moment of silence to honor the four students found stabbed to death last month in their off campus home. No arrests have been made, but investigators are pursuing one clue they hope could lead to a break in the case.

They're asking for the public's help and finding a white Hyundai Elantra which they say was near the victim's home during the early time of the killings. Tuesday marks one month since the murders.

[18:35:02]

Well, measles outbreak in Central Ohio is growing so wide and so fast that health officials say it will be months before it's under control. Almost all of those infected are kids, none of them fully vaccinated against measles.

CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard has more. Jacqueline?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Pam, we're learning that because of how widespread this outbreak is and how infectious measles is, it could take a few months before this outbreak gets under control. That's what Lori Tremmel Freeman, the Head of the National Association of County and City Health Officials, told me. And we're learning that this outbreak is being driven by a lack of vaccination. Columbus Public Health officials confirmed that as of Friday, among 64 measles cases in this outbreak 61 were unvaccinated. The remaining three were partially vaccinated, meaning they completed only one of the two doses of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, that's needed to be fully vaccinated.

And then 25 of the cases were hospitalized, and all cases have been in children with the majority 70 percent in ages one to five. Now, Columbus public health officials are urging parents to get their young kids vaccinated if they aren't already, that's because this is just one example of what can happen when children are not up to date on their childhood immunizations and that gives a highly contagious virus like measles the opportunity to spread within a community.

And Pam, measles is so contagious that if one infected person coughs or sneezes in a room, the virus can live for up to two hours in the air even after the infected person leaves. Pam, back to you.

BROWN: All right. Jacqueline, thanks so much.

Well, there is a new push in the Senate for mental health reform. And up next, one Republican senator shares with me why this cause is so personal for him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): Every single one of us has a family history. A loved one, a friend, someone you know, that has serious mental illness. If you add addiction to that, it becomes even more pervasive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:41:43]

BROWN: New York City's Mayor is defending a policy that critics say unfairly targets the homeless population. The city is under fire for an order that allows first responders to intervene when someone is suffering a mental health crisis and potentially commit them involuntarily. Mayor Eric Adams talked about his decision with CNN's Michael Smerconish.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS (D) NEW YORK: Leaving people on the streets who cannot take care of their basic needs and they are dangers to themselves or others. That's inhumane. I am not going to do that. I'm going to make sure we give people the care they need and the care they deserve. And in many cases, they don't know they need that care because of their mental health illness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: People opposing the policy rallied outside City Hall this week. Lawyers are seeking to block the rollout of this new policy. And at the same time, the U.S. Senate is debating a bill that could improve how our country handles the issue of mental health. I sat down with Republican Bill Cassidy from Louisiana about why for him, this isn't only about policy, it's personal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: Every single one of us has a family history. A loved one, a friend, someone you know, that has serious mental illness. If you add addiction to that, it becomes even more pervasive.

Now, my family's - that's my family too. And everybody watching, it's their family.

BROWN: When you say your family, how so?

CASSIDY: Oh, my gosh, don't make me cry.

But I had a nephew commit suicide. Now, I'm still emotional after all these years. But everybody has such an emotional story. Now, we can either say, okay, we have this emotion. There's nothing to do about it. Or we can say we're going to attempt to do something about it.

And I'd like to think that which we're doing was I'm doing with Sen. Murphy and Congress is participating in creating the resources for locals and states to do something positive means that the - that those stories will be different, that the person who - if her needs are an attended to spirals downward, instead has her needs attended to and that first episode of serious mental illness is her last episode. If we can do that, we succeed.

BROWN: Do you think that that could have saved your nephew's life?

CASSIDY: Well, we'll never know, right? And he had a lot of good service. So we attempt to do things for people and - but we can't know for sure. But there is someone out there that the data shows will be helped. This is - what we're doing is based on something done in Maine, in which they took folks who had their first episode of serious mental illness as an adolescent or a young adult. And again, wrapped those services around that person and they found they can make a difference.

And again, instead of serial breakdowns leading to a death and being found beneath the interstate overpass, the person was returned to wholeness and it became a distant memory, not a life defining event. And if we can do that, then it's great for the person, the family and our society.

[18:45:01]

BROWN: My uncle died by suicide. He had mental health issues, so it's hit me personally as well and it really changed my perspective on the importance of mental health. Did your nephew dying by suicide change your perspective? And if you don't mind me asking, when did that happen?

CASSIDY: Well, it was about 20 years ago, even longer. I'm a physician and so - and I worked in a hospital for the uninsured, so I think I've always had a group of patients who are more vulnerable. Now, patients in general, by definition, almost are vulnerable. But my practice of liver disease dealt with a lot of folks who had alcohol problems or drug problems, not all but some. And there's oftentimes a co-diagnosis. There's the person who has addiction, but the addiction in a way is attempting to compensate for the mental illness.

BROWN: It's interesting because mental health is often separated from physical health. Why is it so important for mental health and physical health to be treated in tandem?

CASSIDY: Well, there's an occasional medical condition in which the physical condition brings about the mental health issue. So we can have that kind of small subset. But when you look at people with serious mental illness, the longetivity is much less than general population, much less.

Put differently, they're more likely to die at an early age. And so having serious mental illness often leads to serious physical illness. Now, we spoke about the people who treat themselves with addiction, cigarettes or alcohol or drugs, but it's also an inability or difficult in keeping up with follow up healthcare visits and then sometimes it's our dadgum payment laws.

Prior to the bill that Chris and I wrote, and others in another bill we worked on, Medicaid would not pay for someone to see their family doctor, for example, and their mental health doctor the same day. So the internist could see the patient, see that the patient is wildly psychotic, but couldn't send them across the hall to see the psychiatrist because Medicaid wouldn't pay for two doctor visits.

Similarly, the psychiatrists could see the person and just diagnosed as being dehydrated from diabetes out of control, but could not send them over to the internist in order to have their diabetes addressed, they have to send them to the emergency room with all the barriers of that and it's involved with.

So it's also our payment system that has worked against people getting the care they need.

BROWN: I want to talk a little bit more about that bill with Sen. Murphy that you've been working on a Mental Health Reform Reauthorization Act. Do you have - do you feel as though members of your party support this enough for it to pass? Do they understand the urgency of this? How do you convince them this is not government overreach?

CASSIDY: Well, so this is a reauthorization of a bill we passed in 2016.

BROWN: Mm-hm.

CASSIDY: The Mental Health Reform Act of 2016. At that time called the most significant reform of mental health laws in 30 years. So this is not out of whole piece.

BROWN: But it expires in September. CASSIDY: It expires in September.

BROWN: Yes.

CASSIDY: And, of course, our bill attempts to take it and refine it, what went right, what went wrong, try and make it better. Now, whether or not it's passed at the end of the year, I can't tell you that. There's a lot of stuff trying to come together in an end of the year package. If not, we'll reauthorize it again this coming year, try and get the dollars put out there for the state and local programs to continue.

I think everyone agrees upon the urgency. It's probably just the overall kind of sheer volume of business that Congress has to get done, number one. And number two, and the response to the shooting in Uvalde, we passed a whole lot of other mental health legislation.

And so it may just be okay. We spent a lot of time and energy upon this set of mental health proposals. We have to let other things work their way through the system before we return to mental health again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And at the next hour, a look at why mental health isn't something that's just in your head, it could also be in your gut.

Well, in Los Angeles, many of the homeless population struggle with their own mental health problems and their families will stop at nothing to help them. Lisa Ling dives into their world and an all new This is Life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LISA LING, CNN, THIS IS LIFE HOST: And too often cops without training are left to handle confrontations that can escalate quickly. Not long ago, my family witnessed this firsthand right here in Santa Monica, when they encountered a man who appeared to be having a psychotic episode.

It was December of 2020, my husband and eldest daughter who was seven at the time, were leaving a house on the street.

[18:50:01]

As they were walking, a very large man charged them and was just yelling profanities and the guy then said, "You and your daughter are going to die tonight." And then ran off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: It is an all new "THIS IS LIFE WITH LISA LING" tomorrow night at 10 pm only on CNN.

And coming up at the top of the hour, Grant Wahl loved soccer, but wasn't afraid to criticize the sports issues. Now, his death at the age of just 49 has stumped the World Cup and left questions about how someone says young could die so suddenly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:37]

BROWN: Well, Elon Musk, he has not had a great 2022. First he backed himself into a corner, was forced to buy Twitter for $44 billion and then he lost his spot as the world's richest man.

CNN Senior Data Reporter, Harry Enten, joins us now to Run the Numbers. All right. So Harry, what happened to Musk's money?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Well, I'm wearing this vest in honor of the fact that we're talking about billionaires here. I feel like it's a billionaire vest.

BROWN: It is.

ENTEN: But - it is, it is - look, Elon Musk at this point is still the richest man in the world, but he actually lost that title a little bit earlier this week. You can see that Bernard Arnault & Family have closed the gap significantly, at least according to Forbes.

Musk had this largely $224 billion when he bought Twitter on October 27th. You can see that worth has slipped considerably to just 189 billion, though, I wish I had that much. While Bernard Arnault and his family, Louis Vuitton, which I had no idea who Bernard Arnault was, but he owns Louis Vuitton, look at that wealth has climbed from $157 billion on October 27 to $187 billion now. That is well within the margin of error.

And in fact, the Bloomberg list has somewhat similar numbers, but has Musk ahead by a little bit more. It's kind of like polling where you have one billionaire list that says one thing, another billionaire list that says another thing, but they both have Musk barely ahead at this point.

BROWN: Right, with billions in the margin of error. It's really kind of incredible.

So, of course, no one holds the title as riches for too long and clearly - like, let's be honest here, Elon Musk is still super rich even if the title doesn't always stick with him.

ENTEN: Yes. He really has first world problems, let me tell you that much.

BROWN: Yes.

ENTEN: Look, if you look since 1992 and essentially you take the wealthiest person every 10 years, what you see is there's no consistent leader on that list, right? You had Mori in 1992 with about $28 billion, then Bill Gates in 2002, with about $89 billion, Carlos Slim in 2012 with about $90 billion. You look at Elon Musk now with $189 billion. The leaders tend to change, but the only thing that is consistent is that the billionaires are getting richer. That is the richest are getting richer and that's obviously something that we've spoken about a lot in our politics where the wealth disparities do become wider and I think that's pretty clear here. Again, though, if you gave me $28 billion, I would be quite happy.

BROWN: But what would you even do with that much money? I mean, honestly, Harry, what would you do with that much money? Something to think about.

ENTEN: Buy a professional sports team.

BROWN: There you go.

So look, Musk is still barely the richest at this point, but his unpopularity is also going up. Tell us about why that is.

ENTEN: Yes. So if you look essentially at the polling, right, and you look at Musk negative or unfavorable rating, back in September of 2016, it was just 8 percent. Then in August of 2017, it was 15 percent. Then you look at August of 2021, '21 and now up to 35 percent.

What essentially has happened is Musk used to be known as the car guy and the SpaceX guy. But now as he's ventured into other areas, what you've seen is that his popularity has gone up. And for the first time ever, in fact, in the NBC News poll, his unfavorable or negative rating actually exceeds his favorable rating. It used to be the other way around. But now Musk is actually more disliked than liked.

BROWN: And it comes down in large part to political persuasion, right, in terms of who is disliking him?

ENTEN: Yes, that's exactly right. I mean, if you've been following the Twitter sagas, right, the conservatives, the Republicans love him, but the Democrats most definitely do not. And if you compare this back to August of 2017, Republicans were actually more likely to have a negative or unfavorable view of Musk.

But, in fact, fewer Republicans now have an unfavorable view of Musk while the Democrats, look at that number on your screen, back in August of 2017, just 12 percent of Democrats on - had an unfavorable view of Musk now it is 64 percent. It is Democrats that are driving Musk's unfavorable ratings up.

BROWN: All right. Harry Enten, thank you. And by the way, I bet that sports team you would buy if you had all that money would be the Buffalo Bills, am I right?

ENTEN: That's exactly right and you know what, this vest would do very well in the cold (inaudible) ...

[19:00:00]

BROWN: It would. Absolutely it would. Hang on to that vest, just in case. Harry Enten, thanks so much.